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Foes of the World's Peace 



AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY 



LEWIS H. MACHEM 



AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE 



HIGH SCHOOL 
Lcesburg, Va. 



JUNE 13. 1917 



PRESS OF HARRY W WADE. ALEXANORIA. VA. 






MVG 20 ISW 



FOES OF THE WORLD'S PEACE. 

Ladies and (irciitleinon : 

If the question should be put to nine-tenths of the people 
who dwell on earth at this time, who are the foes of the 
world's peace? undoubtedly the answer would be the rulin<>' 
powers of Germany, I am only saying' what all of you know, 
when I declare, that but for the coldly planned deliberate ac- 
tion of those powers the world would be at peace as profound 
and blissful as in the calm springtime of 1914. 

There must be few people in America who cannot realize 
that is was the defiance upon the part of German}^ of well es- 
tablished international law, resulting in the closing of the 
highways of the ocean to American sliips, in a slaughter 
upon the open seas of defenseless men, women and children, 
and the retraction of promises solemnly made, that tlie 
United States has been forced into the European war. No 
people upon the earth have desired peace so passionately as 
the American peojile during the past three years, and it is 
doubtful whether the most ardenf pacifist has longed and 
prayed for the continuation of the peace of this country as 
has President Woodrow Wilson. Nevertheless, by no fault of 
his, by no fault of Coiigross, nor of the country at large, 1)ut 
by the fault, the sin and the boundless crimes of Germany has 
the peace of this country been destroyed. 

If the enormity of this offense is not now obvious to you, 
it will become so as our young Americans begin to perish in 
the European trenches and signs of mourning l)egin to 
appear in our American homes. 

Germany, this international outlaw, this Ishmael among 
the nations of the world, has dragged other peace loving and 
inoffensive peoples into the fiery circle of this infernal strife. 

It seems impossible that anybody who had read the 
negotiations immediately pi-eceding the declarations of the 
present war, in the beginning of August, 1914, could escape 



tlio conviction that the Prussian military power, controlling 
Germany and speaking through the Kaiser, planned and in- 
augurated the war for reasons which have never been stated, 
but which are now fairly understood by the world at large. 
There are the strongest reasons for supposing that if France 
could have been conquered without material depletion of the 
German fighting force, the next move would have been toward 
the subjugation of Great Britain and subsequently the hu- 
miliation of the United States. 

The annals of diplomacy reveal nothing more suggestive 
and more atrocious than German plotting with certain ele- 
ments in Mexico against the United States while professing 
to be friendly toward this government. 

It is idle to dwell upon the illegality of the slaughter of 
Americans and other neutrals upon the seas by submarines 
attacking without warning and without provision for the es- 
cape of crews and passengers. The German government ad- 
mitted the illegality of these things and only attemped to 
justify them on the ground of military necessity. It is a 
mere waste of words to point to the crime of violating the 
neutrality of Belgium, since the German chancellor in a 
speech in the Eeichstag admitted that it was a great wrong 
in violation of the treaty, which, however, he had character- 
ized privately as ''a scrap of paper." 

All of the correspondence regarding the trial of the con- 
spirators who assassinated Prince Ferdinand at Sarajevo, 
and concerning the events which preceded the breaking out 
of the war, was made public, except certain communications 
which passed in those fateful days between the government 
of Germany and that of Austria-Hungary. We are forced to 
the conclusion that the publication of those communications 
is withheld because it would convict Germany of the deliber- 
ate forcing of the war upon Europe. A conviction, neverthe- 
less, may be sustained by circumstantial evidence, and the cir- 
cumstances in this case are so conclusive as to bring practi- 
cally the whole of the neutral world to the conclusion that the 
German government was guilty of this abominable crime. 

If Germany had not wished war she would have joined 



Ilio otlior powovR in iiri^'iiii;' Anstria-IIniig'ary to arl)ilrato lior 
diffcreiicos with Serbia. JNtaiiy a])()logists have spoken and 
written in l)elialt' of Germany, bnt not one of them has been 
able to state even a phinsible case. At first, it was said that 
tlie immediate cause of the war was the mobilization of the 
Russian troops, but these troops were not mobilized against 
Germany but against Austria, and, moreover, it has l^een 
proven that the Russian government, as then constituted, 
was not hostile to Germany. It has also been said that 
England intended to join France and Russia in making an 
attack upon Germany. Bnt, when the Kaiser spoke of Eng- 
land's military force as being a ** contemptible little army," 
he abandoned any argument that England was about to 
threaten the destruction of Germany by force of arms. More- 
over, if the German charges were true, if would not be a jus- 
tification, otherwise there would not be a nuirder which could 
not be justified by the murderer saying he suspected the 
murdered party of having entertained an intention to commit 
murder. 

Early in the war, I attended a meeting of German 
sympathizers out of curiosity to know what possibly could 
be said in favor of the German cause. The chief speaker was 
a clergyman wlio said he was in Austria when the war began, 
and lie described with- enthusiasm tlie movement of hundreds 
of thousands of troops, with perfect equipment even to the 
last strap and buckle, witli abundant supplies, all moved with 
precision, as though the movement had been planned for 
yt'ars. With a shrug, he said he did not know how there 
could have been such perfect preparation. To my mind, tlie 
answer to the conundrum was plain. It had l)een planned for 
years, only waiting for an excuse, a pretext — something per- 
haps like the forged Ems telegram of Bismarck tliat brought 
on the Franco-Prussian war. 

I go a step further along the backward course of events, 
and find that in 1918 there was an astonishing increase in the 
German military establishment. The intent of the law of 
that year was to increase the number of troops, the number 
of organizations, and tlie number of l)alaneed units, and to 



decrease the average age of the men of the field army. At the 
same time, the war chest was increased from $30,000,000 to 
$90,000,000, and for the year 1914, the military budget was 
placed at $300,000,000. Under this Act of 1913, the mobile 
force of trained men amounted to 2,000,000, with a reserve, 
constituted of a second band of the landwehr and of the land- 
strum, making a total fighting strength of approximately 
5,000,000 men. The national debt, too, increased from 
$790,000,00 in 1905 to $1,177,000,000 in 1912. There were no 
corresponding increases in the military budgets of the other 
countries of Europe. Moreover, there were reasons 
which led many diplomats to fear that Germany was contem- 
plating an attaclv upon France and that the drive would lie 
made through Belgium, notwithstanding Germany had liound 
herself by treaty to do no such thing. The German govern- 
ment also built a series of strategic railwaj^s which gave 
promise of military activities. When all of these things are 
considered the evidence is overwhelming that Germany 
planned to drive upon France at the earliest ^opportunity 
and that the assassination of Ferdinand was a pretext only. 

It may be asked why the German government was 
anxious for a conquest, of France. The answer is that the 
rising tide of socialism or social democracy in Germany, in 
spite of the utmost efforts of the Emperor and his associates, 
gave warning that unless the minds of the nation were quickly 
diverted there was danger of a modification, if not a displace- 
ment, of the monarchy. A brief and brilliant military cam- 
paign would have strengthened the government in the eyes 
of the German people who would glory in the added prestige 
of the German army. Moreover, the addition of French prov- 
inces, bringing the German Empire to the English Channel, 
would have. afforded a base of operations (which would not 
have been long postponed) against England, of whom dis- 
trust and hatred has been for years shrewdly inculcated into 
the German mind. 

Going back to the year 1907, we find a peace conference 
assembled at the Hague. There were gathered forty-four 
nations. Differences of opinion there were in abundance, but 
the representatives of Germanv were found consistently 



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fio-litiiig every concrete proposition looking to a peaceful 
settlement of international differences. They were usually 
supported l)y tlie representatives of Austria, Bulg'aria, Tur- 
key, Italy and Greece. Even in the matter of fixing the date 
for the third peace conference the German delegation insisted 
that it should not be held before the year of 1914, indicating 
that a conference before that year might prove unacceptable 
to the German government. No one can read the reports of 
the second peace conference without being convinced that the 
German delegation had orders from lieadquarters to agree to 
nothing wliich would in any way hamper the inauguration of 
a war l)y Germany. 

Von Biebenstein's argument against the English prop- 
osition for compulsory arliitration was most significant. Am- 
bassador Choate, representing tlie United States, delivered a 
scathing reply, pointing out that the German orator was 
praising peace in the alistract while denouncing every practi- 
cal step in the direction of peace and admiring the figure of 
peace in the air, but fiercely attacking it as soon as it ap- 
proached the earth. In the German delegation sat one silent 
figure who had attended the first conference and had shown 
himself a sincere friend of arbitration. He was sent to the 
second conference but upon the condition that he should not 
be permitted to speak. 

In the first conference, called by the Czar of Russia and 
attended by twenty-one nations, one memlier of the German 
delegation was quite active. He was a Bavarian professor 
who had actually written a book in opposition to international 
arbitration. It is impossil)lo to belie\e that he would have 
been selected as a representative if the German government 
had not determined in advance to put every possilile obstacle 
in the way of an agreement by the nations to arliitrate tlu^ii- 
differences. 

Even the mere suggestion of having an international 
court provoked at first the liostility of the German govern- 
ment, and it was necessary to send a delegation from the con- 
ference to Berlin in order to secure that government's assent 
to tlie establislinuMit of anv sort of a court. When the court 



was iinally created, chiefly because of the opposition of the 
German delegation, it was not possible to provide for the 
compulsory arbitration of any questions except those involv- 
ing contract debts. 

It is worthy of notice that at the first conference held 
fifteen years before the breaking out of the present war, the 
German representatives gave as their reason for opposing 
arbitration that Germany was better prepared in a military 
sense than any nation in the world; that the German army 
could be mobilized in ten days, which was a feat no other na- 
tion could accomplish, and that they saw no reason for giving 
up that military advantage and putting themselves upon the 
level of smaller states liy agreeing to arbitrate international 
questions. 

A man must l)e lilind indeeed who does not see in this ac- 
cumulation of evidence positive proof that Germany intended 
to use this military power to accomplish some secret purpose 
before another gathering of the nations' representatives 
should make it impossible for such a scheme to be successful. 

No doubt the other nations were to blame in not taking- 
warning and binding themselves by treaty to resist to the 
uttermost (just as the leading free peoples of the world are 
now resisting) a ruthless, aggressive, and cruel war, set on 
foot for the accomplishment of gigantic crimes. If Germany 
had been warned that any attempt to use her tremendous 
military machine without .justification would cause the prin- 
cipal nations of the world to unite against her, as they have 
united, the world today would be at peace. 

When this war is over there will be another gathering of 
the nations in conference. Let us hope a league will be 
formed for the arbitration of all international questions ; for 
the rendering of judgments which shall be binding upon all 
nations, enforceable by an army and a navy created by con- 
tributions from all. Then, and not until then, will the peace 
of the world be assured. 

Back of the conference of 1899 there were other evi- 
dences that the mind of the German nation was being pre- 
pared for war. Besides the systematic campaign of detrac- 

8 



tioii ni>'aiiist Eiii^'laiid, tli(M-(> was iiistnietioii .^'ivcii at llic iini- 
versitios l)y i)ro1'ossors chosen by the central i;"()\'enniK'nt 
such as had no i)arallel in ancient or modern times. War 
was advocated and giorified as never Ix'l'oi-e in the history of 
the world. The students were tani>-lit that Germany had a 
right to rule the world through force of arms, and all senti- 
ment tending toward peace and harmony among the nations 
was decried as silly sentimentalism and evidence of weakness. 
Treitschke, with liis theory that power was the o])ject of the 
state and that all considerations of right and justice must 
yield to the determination of the state to use its power for its 
own benefit, was the voice of the German government speak- 
ing to the German people and especially to the young men of 
the ruling class in Germany. Nietsche, with his docti'ine of 
the superman and his denunciation of Christianity as the 
gospel of cowardice and ineptitude; Bernhardi, with his re- 
volting theory that only through aggressive warfare could a 
nation grow great; tliese^ and many minor voices pitched up- 
on a like key, made the music that was pro\'ided by the Ger- 
man government for the masses of the German people. 

Even religion was used to foster tliis militaristic S])irit. 
The teachings of Christ and his apostles regarding peace and 
justice were repudiated. The Emperor continually clainu^d 
that he himself was th? chosen instrument of providence to 
liring the world under subjection to Germany. The German 
philosophers were either atheists who constructed a cruel 
and relentless fate, driving the nations without mercy by 
militarism and greed, or they were blas])]ieme)-s and erected 
a monstrous god worse than a demon, who was the junior 
partner of the Kaiser in the bloody enterprise of crushing all 
peoples who came between that royal lunatic and the night- 
mare of blood and death, wliich he fancied was a dream of 
glory. 

lias enough been said to show who are beyond doubt 
foes of the world's peace? Tf not, we might extend our in- 
quiry back of Bismarck, back of William the First and t\\o so- 
called Great Frederick to Frederick William I, that maniac 
wlio, of all men iii liistorv, bv reason of his fits of anger, his 



whims and his calcuhitiiig" malice most resembles the present 
German Emperor. We might even go back to the time of 
Julius Caesar, who found these people holding war as their 
normal life before the beginning of our present era. Some 
say that even the word German is derived from a word mean- 
ing war; while others maintain that it is from a word signi- 
fying a shout, because the ancient Germans went shouting 
into battle. 

The government of Germany is an autocracy. The mon- 
archy is to all intents and purposes irresponsible. The upper 
house, the Bundesrath, is composed of members appointed by 
the rulers of the various states composing the empire. The 
people do not control it. The lower house, the Reichstag, is 
elective, ])ut upon a system of rotten boroughs which has not 
been changed for forty 3^ears. Moreover, it is almost power- 
less. 

The universities are not free, but must teach what is 
agreeable to the government. The school system is rotten 
with caste and the higher education, bj^ means of expense, 
is deliberately put beyond the reach of the masses. 

The press is not free. It has for years been subject to 
the control of the government and is today under the most 
rigid censorship ever imposed by any country in the world's 
history. 

The people are not personally free. Within the past 
quarter of a century six millions have left Germany, most of 
them to come to the United States to taste the sweet joys of 
freedom under the American flag. The German people have 
had their footsteps dogged by spies — just as the people of all 
the world have been under the espionage of the prying, lying 
and treacherous spies of Germany. 

If such a country could conquer France and England, 
who would doubt her effort to conquer America ? Who could 
wish for this country, or for any country, a more abject fate, 
a more frightful natural death and damnation than to bo 
under the heel of such despots? 

The only hope for the people of Germany is revolution — 
the quick and thorough casting out of the devils who have en- 

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slaved and bolrayod thorn. Should this occur, lla,ii,-s of trnco 
would be raised and silence would reign along the battle 
fronts until those poor voiceless millions could say their 
say and do the deeds necessary to ])nt an end to des]iotisni 
and establish republican freedom in Germany. 

In the meanwhile, we Americans are in the war to win. 
Blood and treasure we must spend, and that in generous 
measure, to help our poor brothers in France who spent 
their blood and treasure to help us win freedom. We will 
stand by our ancient foes, the British, who are now our good 
friends, as they have always been our close kin. We will 
stretch out our helping hand to onr poor, big, stumbling- 
Russian brother groping his way toward democratic freedom. 
We will also help that land of art and nuisic, of romance 
and historical liackgrounds — Italy. 

Yes, we'll win this war for civilization. The seas no 
longer limit our duties, nor define our rights. Wo have 
joined the free peoples of the world to win further freedom 
and to protect it ; to give the death blow to the last remnant 
of military despotism that has already drenched the world 
with l)lood and tears, tilled the seas with the corpses of inno- 
cent women and little children — a despotism whose record is 
black with perfidy and crimson with murder millions of times 
multiplied. Having saved civilization from the terror of this 
menace, America will not only bear the proud title of the 
land of the free and the home of the brave, but also a name 
that will be nobler still, of the land that gave freedom to the 
homes of brave peojile in all dominions beneath the shining 
pathway of the sun. 



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